Seattle university student Alan Newell (Sidney Poitier) mans the phone at the Crisis Clinic. Inga Dyson (Anne Bancroft) calls claiming to have taken a lot of pills to commit suicide. She had a fight with her husband Mark Dyson (Steven Hill). The phone company traces the number. Dr. Joe Coburn (Telly Savalas) is the supervisor of the help phone. Det. Judd Ridley (Edward Asner) joins in the race to find Inga.
This was done at the dawn of the phone help line. That may excuse the bad work done by Alan. The concept does prevent Poitier and Bancroft to have face to face interactions. That is always a disadvantage of phone acting and this one isn't intense. The tracking down of Inga provides a little bit of kinetic energy but it's not compelling. The concept is forward thinking but it doesn't always make for a good movie.
This was done at the dawn of the phone help line. That may excuse the bad work done by Alan. The concept does prevent Poitier and Bancroft to have face to face interactions. That is always a disadvantage of phone acting and this one isn't intense. The tracking down of Inga provides a little bit of kinetic energy but it's not compelling. The concept is forward thinking but it doesn't always make for a good movie.